Nymark speaks to researchers whose work with OpenAI helps shape AI's human values.

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To better understand how we make positive impact with AI, Nymark speaks to two researchers working with OpenAI on the alignment problem. This interview with Joe Edelman and Ellie Hain of The Meaning Alignment Institute is our first on the people and process laying the foundations for 'good' AI use – and what that means today.

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How can we make AI safe? And still maximise its benefits for humanity?

These questions are at the heart of today’s race. Among its leaders, solving them comes down to one challenge: the alignment problem.

This means aligning AI to human values to create morally wise AI. And work on the solution is picking up pace, as Nymark hears from leaders driving new research. An OpenAI-backed research institute, the Meaning Alignment Institute, has made landmark progress in showing how we build AI with moral principles. Starting with our interactions with LLMs – in this case ChatGPT.

“If you woke up as the Instagram recommender system, I think you would have a lot of moral questions,” Meaning Alignment Institute co-founder Joe Edelman tells Nymark. “You'd realise, I'm responsible for all of these people's social connections. What they read in the morning. I should really think hard about that. Who should they connect with? What should they read? LLMs seem capable of recognising they're in a situation that is morally significant. And so that's one of the main things we're trying to create. A situation where the future LLM that wakes up in this position can think about how to do this – morally, and well.”

How do we align AI with human values?

Research has kickstarted by identifying unifying human values through a process called Democratic Fine Tuning. To make ChatGPT a Wise Mentor. These democratically-derived values, the researchers say, “could be used to program AIs of the present and future. AIs informed by these values would be able to navigate complex moral problems, weigh conflicting priorities, and keep human wellbeing at the heart of their decision-making. Such AIs would not only meet the narrow goal of not destroying humanity – they would also help us flourish.”

Initial findings were hailed as incredibly promising by AI leaders. Showing how LLMs can arrive at moral principles that are agreed on across the political aisle. Ryan Lowe, who co-led the OpenAI team for alignment of GPT-4, said the research is "among the most exciting advances in AI alignment to date.”